I will be home tomorrow on Christmas eve which finally ends my road trip back to the east coast. I couldn't end the trip without driving past the Great Smoky Mountains, and of course, make a day visit to Dollywood. I heart Dolly Parton. When ever she speaks she warms my heart. Something about her voice and her laughing squeal makes me giddy. I only rode two of the rides because many of the roller coasters go into loops and I am terrified of upside down roller coasters. A fear that I just didn't fell like confronting today. The weather dropped [View Full Entry]

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After leaving the Grand Canyon Jason and I had a lovely days rest with Rio in Albuquerque. You can't go wrong with home cooked Mexican food and movie nights. We visited Santa Fe during the day and I fell in love with several pairs of handmade cowboy boots in a shop called Back at the Ranch (check out the gorgeous kicks at www.backattheranch.com). I want a pair so bad! They are all hand made and take about 4 months to create. How can you say no to pig skin and elephant heels? However, the $1,400 - $3,500 average price tag makes [View Full Entry]

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We finally made it out of California and headed straight for the Grand Canyon. We arrived in the evening just 50 miles south and stayed in a small town in Arizona called <i>Williams</i>. The two lane downtown was full of Christmas lights and Route 66 memorabilia. It was a charming welcome and refreshing to be in a small community. A place where you can tell the locals from the travelers. The only restaurant opened, <i>Cruisers Cafe 66</i>, boasted about the local brew of amber ale. I was satisfied. Many of the dinners arrived in pj's. During our two day stay mo [View Full Entry]

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During the three day stop into Anaheim California for the final 3 Tori Amos shows, I had the brilliant idea to go to Disneyland. It was the best idea I had in a long time. I have to say Disneyworld in Florida was better- maybe I am being bias because I went to Disneyworld as a child. I was hoping to get my picture taken with the Chip & Dale characters, but the entire time I was in Disneyland I didn't see one of the Disney characters walking around to take a picture. Maybe because I ignored Toon Town. My mother [View Full Entry]

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I always wanted to visit Death Valley. It was desolate, harsh, expansive, and damn cold. Granted it is December and I knew the weather would be chilly. However, I think my visit would have made a better impression on me if I was sweating bullets. We stayed overnight at the Panamint Springs Resort- no phone and no TV. I was amazed this was the most "ruffing it" I have done since a kid when my family would pack the pop up tent to go to a Maryland RV park. The highlight actually was getting out of Death Valley and visiting Rhyolite [View Full Entry]

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We survived the "nasty" of what was Portland. Over 30 hours of straight rain and one day of sunshine, I can't say that I fell in love with Oregon. The locals said the weeks weather was rare, but somehow I just couldn't believe them. I will have to go back when I have more sunshine and no broken car window to fix. The drive down from Portland was full of more rain- only breaking when we traveled across the border into California. We crashed in Oakland for three days to finish up some business (Tori Amos concerts), and decided to head [View Full Entry]

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On the road to Portland, we wanted Talula to get out and run around to expense some of her energy, so we stopped at a rest stop around Roseburg, Oregon. However, she was off the leash and decided to find a pile of crap to role in and eat. It was not fun to wash her with bottles of our water in the freezing cold. She was so bitter for the ride up to Portland. We arrived in Portland last night to a heavy downpour of rain. The foreshadowing couldn't have been more perfect. I woke up this morning to Jason [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday our USA road trip across country from San Francisco back to the east coast kicked off. Jason, Talula, and I started out heading up to Weed, California just north of Mt. Shasta. The drive unfortunately began later in the afternoon and most of the 4 hour drive was in the dark. We stopped 80 miles in at the Pilot Gas Station and I was excited to see gas as low as $3.29. I always find large gas stations with shops fascinating. This one in particular was huge- selling music cd's to donuts to teddy bears. The stations bathroom, which is [View Full Entry]

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